US author Toni Morrison endorses Obama

0 Comments | AFP, January, 2008

WASHINGTON (AFP) — Nobel laureate Toni Morrison, who once dubbed Bill Clinton the "first black president," endorsed Senator Barack Obama on Monday and not Clinton's wife in the White House race.

The African-American author's announcement came the same day Obama was to receive a public endorsement from veteran Democrat Senator Edward Kennedy and Caroline Kennedy, the daughter of former president John F. Kennedy -- assassinated in 1963.

Saying it was the first time she had issued a public endorsement of a presidential candidate, Morrison wrote in a letter to the Illinois senator that neither his racial background nor his rival Hillary Clinton's gender were decisive factors in her decision.

Morrison said she chose to endorse Obama because it might help attract...